Chip Time: 1:24:55
Will post a real writeup soon, but suffice it to say that I was mostly disappointed today. Yes, I was happy with this pace for “just” 15K on literally a subset of this course a few weeks ago — but today, I was really hoping for a confidence booster before Napa in a few weeks. That confidence booster would’ve been at least sub-1:24. Obviously I didn’t come close today.
That said, the conditions today were somewhat challenging. Not terrible, but now I have two runs in a single month where I’ve really crapped out on the Great Highway. This time, going out massively sucked. Lots of headwind and crosswinds — and I couldn’t keep up with a pack of guys ahead of me for drafting). Overall, the effort felt close-ish to a 6:15 pace; I was shocked when my watch told me I was barely holding on to 6:42.
Notably, I wasn’t watching my cadence. It turns out that cadence on that ~3 mile stretch dropping about 10 spm.
The way back was somewhat better. But at that point, I was in survival mode — where I’m just hanging on to finish (as opposed to strategizing about people to pass or when to kick). Not great.
Anyway, I think I’ll feel better after a nap. Then maybe I’ll go for a short run to round out this week (if it’s not raining too hard)!
